Presently, identifying and maintaining the secure ingress and egress to and the surveillance of various types of structures and areas is of the utmost importance. Current technologies provide numerous systems and devices that ensure only allowed people can enter specific doors or gates (i.e., biometric devices, computer identification cards, etc. . . . ). Video surveillance systems are also utilized to monitor large, open areas (i.e., storage yards, parking lots, airport taxiways, etc. . . . ). Further, radio frequency identification devices (RFID) are used to tag and detect specific individuals or items within specified areas.
Even though all of these systems provide adequate measures of security in their respective implementations within particular environments, the systems all have very important protective deficiencies. For example, video surveillance systems allow the observance of the entry or exit of an individual to an area that is under surveillance in addition to monitoring areas. However, video surveillance systems are not useful in distinguishing between people or objects that have access to a particular monitored area versus people or objects that should not have access to a particular monitored area.
Radio frequency identification device (RFID) tag security systems can be used to monitor wider areas than gateway id cards or biometric entry/exit devices. However, a security system that uses RFIDs can only see those objects or individuals that possess a RFID security tag that are registered to the system. RFID security systems are designed to limit the access of objects and individuals to areas where all relevant objects or individuals are appropriately tagged. Therefore, the systems can monitor or “see” individuals or objects that should be in a specific area. However, since intruders or trespassers would not be carrying identification tags these systems would be blind to individuals who should not be there.
Therefore, there exist a need to secure environments with large, open areas and numerous points of access. The present invention provides a system that solves this problem in a fashion that is distinct and unique from the above-mentioned current solutions. The solution is accomplished by utilizing a combination of technologies in order to provide the overall capability to see and identify all individuals or objects within a monitored area. Additionally, the present invention allows for the pinpointing and cross-referencing of the location of identified objects or individuals in order to determine the location of an intruder object or individual.